A SECOND LOOK AT THE SHROUD OF TURIN

May I suggest that you do a little research on what I believe is the most enigmatic, artifact that is on planet earth. Of course I am speaking about the Shroud of Turin.

Yesterday, my friend and co-producer of the WATCHERS DVD series, Richard Shaw and myself climbed the mountains of Colorado – to the 10,000 foot level – in our rented Jeep and visited Barrie Shwortz, the photographer that was part of the STURP team – Shroud of Turin Research Project – in 1978. The team had access to the Shroud for 5 days, and Barrie stayed awake at his post for 102 out of the 120 hours! He took thousands of photographs of the Shroud and is now recognized as one of the worlds leading experts. During our interview, he mentioned that he thought that the team would arrive in Turin, examine the Shroud, find that the image was painted on the cloth and go home. However, much to his amazement this was not the case! Barrie states emphatically that the Shroud is not a painting, or a picture and was not put on the cloth by the hand of man. In short, no one really knows how the image got there. What is even more amazing as that the image that we see here is from a photographic NEGATIVE! This startling fact wasn’t discovered until the modern era. In other words the Shroud did not begin to reveal its secrets until the Secunda Pia photographed it and almost dropped the glass developing plate when he saw the face that you see in the picture above.

In my opinion the Shroud is forensic evidence of a crucified man.It shows in graphic detail the 120 scourge marks that were inflicted on the body by the Romans. Look at the picture above and you will see the blood marks around the forehead and hair-line. Those are from the helmet of thorns that were pounded into the head of the man on the Shroud. Then there are the marks on the back of the wrists that show that the Romans drove the nails through the palm of the hands, but at an angle so they would come out in between the bones at the base of the wrists, on the back of the hand. There are the wounds from the spear on the side, where you can see the water like substance mixed with the blood.

In closing today’s post. Watchers 3, is entitled, The Fingerprints of the Supernatural. What can be more supernatural than the Shroud of Turin as no one knows how the image was put on the cloth? It just amazes me that we have detailed forensic evidence, that shows a crucified man, in post-mortem, with the exact wounds on his body that we read about in the gospel accounts. I wept when I first saw the face, in 1980, as I believe it is really him. I don’t worship the image, and it doesn’t add to my salvation. It does, however, leave me speechless as I have a tangible link to events that happened almost 2000 years ago, a cosmic picture, if you will of the event that Christians call the resurrection, made, I believe by God himself, as the lifeless body dematerialized in millions of points of light. Is the man on the Shroud Jesus? That’s up to you to decide for yourself.As for me, the Shroud of Turin is God’s Calling Card.